Help! weird bugs in my snake tank?

[Misa601]

I've had my snake for awhile now, his husbandry is exactly where it needs to be, no health issues and he pounds back rats like no tomorrow.

I fed him at 9 am this morning, no issue's, he ate it within minutes and happily spent his day in his hide and just came out a few minutes ago to have a drink which I always love to observe.

This is when I noticed all these little brown-ish coloured bugs, that are similar to lice, crawling all over his water dishes and his hide... my heart sank as the first thing that comes to mind is he has mites

since I don't want to risk regurge I can't handle him but carefully went over every inch of him and his tank with a flash light and they only seem to be in these two locations. As well as some are crawling through the bedding, but majority are on top of his hide.

they are way to tiny and light to get a picture of, otherwise I'd post one. I had him out the other day as well as I was spot cleaning his tank while he sat with me and I didn't see anything? Could they be mites or is it something else? should I buy some pam just in case or should I just switch everything over and see of they come back?

I'm sorry for the long post I just figured detail is important in this case!

Thanks

[elbee]

What substrate do you have?

[Misa601]

Aspen on the hot side a little bit of cypress on the cool side to control humidity

[crazypythonlady]

It sounds like mites..I would wait for the snake to digest and order Pam. Clean the tank with bleach throw away all cage furniture and treat the new substrate. I was unfortunate enough to pick up mites from a bag of substrate is got at Petsmart. Good Luck

[CORBIN911]

Take a pic if you can, TBH they may be springtails which come in alot of homehardware store aspens, and coco husks, They are actually nice and some reptile breeders buy them specially for more damp substrates, they eat bacterias and molds.

[Greengirl]

Take a pic if you can, TBH they may be springtails which come in alot of homehardware store aspens, and coco husks, They are actually nice and some reptile breeders buy them specially for more damp substrates, they eat bacterias and molds.

I agree, I was worried my substrate had mites, but everytime I changed it more would show up, but they never attached to the snake or even cared about it. They are most likely springtails and provide a beneficial service to the ecosystem of your enclosure.

[muddoc]

Mites are black. By the time they are visible to the naked eye, they are extremely dark. If your bugs are light colored, they are probably wood mites, and not harmful to your snake.

[Misa601]

So My partner scrubbed the tank and changed the bedding and disinfected everything, and the bugs have vanished so all is well!

Thanks everyone who helped!